Protest against EWN cartoon irrational, racist

01 June 2014, 18:15

Comrades, our President, His Excellency, The Honourable JG Zuma said repeatedly, even when we were closest to elections, that the non-clever people will continue to vote for ANC despite all the noise of "clever people" which tried hard to discourage this.

So EWN cartoon depictions simply acknowledged the fact that our president was correct. So why protest against the acknowledged fact? The answer to this question would reveal true character of those who protested

As one of those who proudly voted for ANC and also an active member of the branch of my precious movement, I saw the cartoon as a celebration of the truth told by my president and thus it was not offensive. When you are free, no amount of depiction or condemnation would be strong enough to bring you down.

The only reason the K word was the most offensive is that it also meant deliberate denial of economic opportunities. I’m telling you, if the same K word is used to define someone who always gets all the big tenders it is not offensive. That’s how we use it these days. It’s like saying: ‘that guy is a big dog there, man!’ It can even mean that someone goes where no one dares.

Having a deep understanding of what it means to be a maqabane, I know that many ANC members, or at least at our branch, understand what our president meant by “clever blacks” and also did not attach racial labels to EWN cartoon just because of the race of its editor.

This I believe members of ANC know because every member is a leader and thus know how to drive this vehicle of freedom for the African child. They know that doing what those protesters did would be promoting white supremacy, racial oppression and disharmony rather than fighting all those ills.

Even when the EWN cartoon protesters tried very hard to spread a wrong perception that the cartoon was criticising all black people the same way as whites did during apartheid, it was not convincing because there are black people who voted for other political parties. So to portray the protest of those people as a continuation of struggle against white supremacy is wrong.

I personally think the protesters brought ANC into disrepute and counter revolutionary, but that’s something I can raise in my branch. It is a serious blow against our National Democratic Revolution.

I was taken aback when I heard during Redi Tlhabi’s show that people were protesting for the resignation of EWN editor. I could hear fear and frustration in the voice of the responsible editor.

Any discerning listener could easily hear that her apology was not genuine and indeed she was not apologising, but protesting against unreasonable instruction to apologise, because deep down she knew that there was nothing to apologise for.

I don’t know who owns EWN, but I was highly disturbed when she sounded as if she apologised simply because the powers that control her organisation were directly dependent on the ANC or any of our alliance partners for survival and thus may dismiss her to appease their capital master.

This reminds me of the day I resigned from a company I worked for for ten years that was taken by Japanese in 2010. I could hear the anger I had then in the voice of EWN editor when she spoke to Redi and the response of some listeners did not surprise me because it was the same response I had from both the union that was supposed to represent me and the co-workers.

After I won the case at the CCMA, I chose settlement rather returning to my work because I valued peace of mind over fighting the power of capital that tramples human rights and dignity in workplace realities.

I have no doubt that even top management knew there was nothing to apologise for. What I could draw from both the apology of the EWN editor and the management was that they acknowledged that there was a reaction against a cartoon, but request that the protesters familiarise themselves with the policies regulating media in South Africa and its impact on human rights. In a nutshell they were telling those protesters to grow up.

It’s easier to think the reaction of those protesters was racist considering the race of both our President and EWN editor who both used the same opposition of cleverness to define those who’d vote and indeed voted for ANC. No one protested for the resignation of the former.

The reason I think the reaction of protesters was demeaning is the main reason they put forward for the protest. They said they protested because the organisation that own EWN is the most respected and progressive in South Africa. They even said that if the cartoon was posted by any of SABC stations, they would have taken it lightly.

Now this is demeaning because it means that the organisations that Jacob Zuma works for (both the ANC and the Republic of South Africa) are not deserving of respect and are not progressive. But they also say that the media institutions under government (led by ANC) are not respected and progressive. Obviously they don’t know how effective our government offices are. ANC led government has created the most progressive office a South African government has ever had in so many years. Even the changing of my name was efficiently and effectively done without any hiccups at the very tender age of our freedom.

The voluntary unwarranted servitude of “high ranking members” to whiteness has the danger of creating the problems that led to the reigning Zionist mentality in the Middle East. South Africa has the opportunity to redefine such problems because ANC has policies, capacity and wisdom to turn our country into the beacon of hope for the whole world.

I’ve also realised that those who are regarded as high ranking members of the movement are more likely to phone Radio702 as ordinary citizens, but not to any of the SABC stations.

For an example, Edna Molewa took it upon herself to call Jenny-Crews Williams’ show to clarify an issue that Jenny said after our president said something about a rape that took place at his homestead. Jenny even mistaken her for Edna Mamonyane - a JHB metro traffic reporter.

My favourite stations: Motsweding, Ukhozi, Mganalonene and Phalaphala FM radio stations said the same thing, but no one of our “high fliers” would even call there in a form of ordinary listener.

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